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Crown Jewel (2018)
WWE Crown Jewel was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event promoted by WWE for their Raw and SmackDown brands. The event took place on November 2, 2018 at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event was WWE's second PPV held in Saudi Arabia and will featured the first-ever WWE World Cup tournament. It also marked the in-ring return of Shawn Michaels, who ended his career in 2010, as well as the return of Hulk Hogan, who has not appeared on WWE television since a 2015 scandal. History Production On March 5, 2018, WWE and the Saudi General Sports Authority announced the Greatest Royal Rumble, a live event to be held on April 27, 2018 at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. On September 17, 2018, WWE and the Saudi General Sports Authority announced the follow up to the Greatest Royal Rumble, Crown Jewel, a live event to be held on November 2, 2018 at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh. The event is a part of a 10-year strategic multiplatform partnership between WWE and the Saudi General Sports Authority in support of Saudi Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia's social and economic reform program. Storylines The card consisted of twelve matches, including one on the pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands. Storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live. At SummerSlam, Brock Lesnar defended the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns. Before the match began, Braun Strowman came out and announced that he would be cashing in his Money in the Bank contract on the winner. During the match, however, Strowman was incapacitated by Lesnar, preventing him from cashing in. The distraction allowed Reigns to defeat Lesnar and win the championship, ending Lesnar's 504-day reign. The following night on Raw, General Manager Kurt Angle told Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman that although Lesnar had a contractual rematch, it would not occur for an indefinite period of time. The following week, Strowman announced that he would be cashing in against Reigns at Hell in a Cell inside the namesake structure. At the event, Lesnar interfered in the match by kicking in the cell door and attacking both men, rendering them unable to continue, thus ruling the match a no contest and Reigns retained the championship. The following night on Raw, both Reigns and Strowman called out Lesnar, resulting in Acting General Manager Baron Corbin scheduling a triple threat match between Reigns, Strowman, and Lesnar for the Universal Championship at Crown Jewel. On the October 22 episode of Raw, however, Reigns relinquished the title after announcing that his leukemia, which had been in remission since late 2008, had legitimately relapsed. This turned the scheduled triple threat match into a singles match between Lesnar and Strowman for the now vacant title. On September 17, 2018, WWE scheduled the WWE World Cup for Crown Jewel, an eight-man tournament to "determine the best in the world" with four wrestlers representing Raw and SmackDown each. On the October 8 episode of Raw, for his accomplishments in WWE, free agent John Cena was announced as the first entrant to represent Raw. That same episode, a 10-man "global" battle royal commenced where the winner would be added to the tournament. Acting General Manager Baron Corbin took part with nine local competitors, but was lastly eliminated by a returning Kurt Angle, disguised as The Conquistador, thus Angle won the battle royal to qualify for the tournament. Two more qualifiers were decided on the October 9 episode of SmackDown, where Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton qualified for the tournament by defeating Samoa Joe and Big Show, respectively. Raw's final two qualifiers were decided on the October 15 episode of Raw, where Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler qualified by defeating Drew McIntyre and Dean Ambrose, respectively. SmackDown's final two qualifiers were decided on the SmackDown 1000 special, where The Miz and Rey Mysterio, the latter making his full-time WWE return, qualified for the tournament by defeating Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura, respectively. On the October 29 episode of Raw, Acting General Manager Baron Corbin replaced Cena with Bobby Lashley after praising Lashley's post-match beat down of Finn Bálor earlier that night. In storyline, Corbin replaced Cena as he did not technically qualify for the tournament. In reality, Cena legitimately refused to participate due to the controversy surrounding the event. On the October 30 episode of SmackDown, SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon gave his four participants an ultimatum: if their finalist were to lose, they would be fired from SmackDown. At Super Show-Down, AJ Styles defeated Samoa Joe by submission in a no countout, no disqualification match to retain the WWE Championship. On the same night, Daniel Bryandefeated The Miz to earn a WWE Championship match. Following Bryan's win, it was announced by SmackDown General Manager Paige that he would receive his WWE Championship match against Styles at Crown Jewel. However, after the two had a heated exchange on the October 30 episode of SmackDown, Commissioner Shane McMahon announced that their championship match would take place that night. Styles successfully retained his championship after submitting Bryan with the "Calf Crusher". Moments after the match concluded, Joe attacked both men, choking each out with the "Coquina Clutch". Enraged, Styles demanded to face Joe at Crown Jewel with the title on the line, and Paige reluctantly made it official. In reality, Bryan had also legitimately refused to work Crown Jewel due to the controversy surrounding the event, so WWE moved his championship match up to the October 30 episode of SmackDown. At Super Show-Down, Triple H defeated The Undertaker in a No Disqualification match. After the match, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, and Kane showed mutual respect for one another until Undertaker and Kane attacked Triple H and Michaels. On the following Raw, Triple H and Michaels formally rechristened themselves as D-Generation X, challenging The Brothers of Destruction to a tag team match at Crown Jewel, marking Michaels' first match since being retired by The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVI in 2010. On the SmackDown 1000 special on October 16, 2018, The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) defeated The New Day (represented by Big E and Xavier Woods) to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, with help from their new ally Big Show. A rematch for the titles was scheduled for Crown Jewel. On November 1, it was announced that Shinsuke Nakamura would defend the United States Championship against Rusev on the event's pre-show. Results Other on-screen personnel See also *List of WWE pay-per-view events *Crown Jewel *WWE in Saudi Arabia Category:WWE in Saudi Arabia Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2018 Pay-Per-View Events